[[!meta date="2018-04-13T14:20:56-06:00"]]
[[!meta author="Tyler Cipriani"]]
[[!meta copyright="""
Copyright &copy; 2018 Tyler Cipriani
"""]]
[[!meta title="2018 NHC First Round"]]

![Nothing in this photo is from this year](https://photos.tylercipriani.com/thumbs/8a/308211cce415651937e48473784f25/large.jpg "Pretty ribbons")

I got my 2018 NHC first round results today. I put in 3 beers and 1 mead which
hits the 4 entry limit-cap.

My entries were:

1. [[Dark Mild|/brewing/2016-06-19-mild]]
2. Weissbier
3. American IPA
4. [[Traditional Mead|/brewing/nhc-2014-gold-medal-tupelo-mead]]

The mead was *not* the same mead that won gold in 2014. I used Wyeast Sweet
Mead yeast instead of 71B, but other than that it was the same (even made it in
late 2011 IIRC).

## Results

Here are my [2018 NHC
scoresheets](https://tylercipriani.com/nhc-2018-scoresheets.pdf) with judge's
names/IDs removed.

The tl;dr is:

* 1st Place American IPA -- 40 points
* 1st Place Traditional Mead -- 43 points
* 3rd Place Weissbier -- 40 points
* Dark Mild -- 28 points

## Random thoughts and low-grade ranting

I'm happy that I'm moving on with 3 entries. But I do have a good rant built
up: my dark mild was judged badly.

It's fine that my mild didn't win, but the judges describe a mild:

* "brown sugar/toffee"
* "light roast, caramel, nutty"
* "toasted malt, low toffee, low herbal hops, low bitterness, light dark fruit
  esters (raisin), malty"

And then they both put it closer to "Not to style" than "Classic example" --
what‽ I'm not saying I should win everything. I'm not saying I should have won
this category. I don't even have a problem with a 28. My beer may very well
have fallen lifeless on this particular day for these particular judges -- all
that is totally cool. But I do have a problem when judges describe a mild --
verbatim from the guidelines -- then tell me it's not to style :(

`</rant>`

I was thrilled with my other scoresheets, I didn't expect to do so well. The
weissbier was particularly surprising since I've struggled so much with that
style -- I'm sure I've brewed at least 3 sulfury examples in the past year!

## Recipes

I don't think I've ever posted a weissbier recipe, and I did a few things
differently with my IPA, so here goes:

## American IPA (2018-02-01)

Stats
-----

-   OG: ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
-   FG: ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
-   IBU (Tensith): 96.5
-   Batch Size: 6 Gallons
-   Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Fermentables
------------

  Ingredient                   Amount    %      When
  ---------------------------- --------- ------ ------
  Root Shoot Meridian Pale     15 lbs    85     Mash
  Briess Carapils              1 lbs     6      Mash
  Corn Sugar                   1 lbs     6      Mash
  Bards Carastan               0.5 lbs   3      Mash
  Weyermann - Acidualted Malt  4 oz      1      Mash

Hops
----

  Variety    Alpha    Amount     IBU    Form           Time
  ---------- -------- ---------- ------ -------------- -----------
  Chinook    13.0 %   1.00 oz.   36.3   Loose Pellet   FWH
  Amarillo   9.5 %    1.00 oz.   20.7   Loose Pellet   45 Min
  Columbus   15.5 %   1.00 oz.   28.3   Loose Pellet   30 Min
  Mosaic     13.0 %   1.00 oz.   18.5   Loose Pellet   10 Min
  Citra      15.0 %   1.00 oz    7.0    Loose Pellet   Flame Out
  Columbus   15.5 %   1.00 oz    7.3    Loose Pellet   Flame Out
  Ekuanot    12.5 %   1.00 oz    5.9    Loose Pellet   Flame Out
  Galaxy     15.0 %   1.00 oz    7.0    Loose Pellet   Flame Out
  Mosaic     13.0 %   1.00 oz    6.1    Loose Pellet   Flame Out
  Citra      15.0 %   1.00 oz    0.0    Loose Pellet   Dry Hop
  Columbus   15.5 %   1.00 oz    0.0    Loose Pellet   Dry Hop
  Ekuanot    12.5 %   1.00 oz    0.0    Loose Pellet   Dry Hop
  Galaxy     15.0 %   1.00 oz    0.0    Loose Pellet   Dry Hop
  Mosaic     13.0 %   1.00 oz    0.0    Loose Pellet   Dry Hop


Yeast
-----

  Strain         Amount             Starter
  -------------- ------------------ ---------
  A07 Imperial   1 New pack thing   Nope

Steps
-----

1.  Dough in with 9.7 Gallons of Water at 164°F for a strike temp of
    154°F
2.  2 tsp Gypsum to mash for calcium
3.  Rest 60 min @ 154°F
4.  Sparge 20 min with 170°F water
5.  Preboil 9 gallons at 1.040
6.  Boil 90 minutes to reduce to 7 gallons
7.  Add recirc arm and chiller at 20 minutes
8.  1 tsp Wyeast Beer Nutrient Blend at 10 minutes
9.  1 whilfloc tab at 2 minutes
10. Hot whirlpool with flameout hops 20 minutes
10. Chill to 62°F using ice water through Hydra Immersion Chiller
11. Transfer to conical and use 90 seconds of oxygen through air stone at 1 LPM
12. Pitch 1 pack A07 dated 2018-01-28
13. Set space heater for 64°F
14. Add 1oz Columbus, 1oz Mosaic, 1oz Ekuanot T-90 pellets to fermentor on day 3
15. Jumper to keg with surescreen and 1oz Galaxy T-90, 1oz Citra T-90, 1oz
    Ekuanot LupuLN2™, 1oz Mosaic LupuLN2™
16. Move keg to kegerator on day 3
17. Jumper to clean keg, add gelatian, put under 30 PSI for 2 days
18. Reduce pressure to 12 psi, pour off a few chunky pints, enjoy!

## Weissbier (2017-01-15)

Stats
-----

-   OG: ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
-   FG: ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
-   IBU (Tensith): 12.3
-   Batch Size: 6 Gallons
-   Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Fermentables
------------

  Ingredient                   Amount    %      When
  ---------------------------- --------- ------ ------
  Weyermann Pale Wheat         4 lbs     59     Mash
  Root Shoot Odyssey Pilsner   5 lbs     37     Mash
  Best Dark Munich             8 oz      4      Mash

Hops
----

  Variety    Alpha    Amount     IBU    Form           Time
  ---------- -------- ---------- ------ -------------- -----------
  Hallertau  4.5 %    1.00 oz.   12.3   Loose Pellet   60 min


Yeast
-----

  Strain            Amount             Starter
  ----------------- ------------------ ---------
  White Labs WLP300 1 New pack thing   Nope

Steps
-----

1.  Dough in with 8.25 Gallons of Water at 114°F for a strike temp of 110°F
    hold 15 minutes
2.  Recirculate and heat to 125°F
3.  Add 2 tsp gypsum
4.  hold 10 minutes
5.  Pull 9 quarts of thick mash (at a water/grist ratio of 1qt/lb) into a
    decoction pot and heat to 160°F, hold 15 minutes
6.  Recirculate and heat main mash to 147°F
7.  Bring decoction to a boil and boil for 20 minutes
8.  Return decoction to main mash to hit 158°F
9.  Hold 25 minutes
10. 1.038 preboil gravity for 9 gallons
11. 1 tsp Wyeast Beer Nutrient Blend at 10 minutes
12. 1 whirlfloc tablet at 2 minutes
13. Chill to 58°F using ice water through Hydra Immersion Chiller
14. Transfer to conical and use 90 seconds of oxygen through air stone and wand
    at 1 LPM
15. Fermentation peaked at 70°F
16. Keg at 2.5 weeks, 30 psi for 2 days, 12 psi after
